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The Blackberry Storm : Nice phone, botched launch  (Source: RIM)
My Blackberry Storm review gets put back as myself and others get shafted by Verizon

RIM's Blackberry Storm is shaping up to be potentially the strongest competitor to the iPhone.  Once its app store launches next year and it receives it much anticipated browser update, adding tabbing and flash, the phone will do virtually everything the iPhone does and then some.

While both the iPhone and Blackberry Storm are attractive phones, based on the widely available base stats and some hands on time at Verizon and AT&T stores, I decided to go for the Storm.  Among the features that attracted me were the ability to copy and paste, the tactile feedback of the keyboard, the larger memory (with card expansion), the higher resolution camera with video, and the superior emailing capabilities.

So needless to say I was pretty excited to get some quality time with the phone and headed over to the local Verizon store over the course of the weekend (I was working late during the launch day). 

When I got to the Verizon store I received my first ominous omen.  I played with one Storm for a little bit, testing out the typing some more.  Then I moved over to the other floor model and noticed that it had some media files on it, presumably to showcase its video player.  I clicked the file labeled "iron_man_trailer" as I'm a big Iron Man fan. 

My eyes were greeted with an error "Could not play media type".  Clicking through this error and trying to return to the home screen I got more errors about queues being full and all sorts of other bad stuff that sounds like problems with the device's file system and or OS.  Could it be a virus?  Or just glitchy base software?  Either way, it didn't seem like a good sign.

Getting to the service desk, I was hoping to get my Blackberry and test it out, to set my mind to ease.  Guess what?  I was told that it was so popular, they had none in stock.  Did any of the other Verizon stores in my area?  Nope. 

I even pulled out that I was hoping to do a review on it, hoping at least to get someone from RIM I could negotiate with to get one a bit sooner, but I was met with little sympathy and an emphatic response that more units would not be shipping until December 15.  The manager himself wanted the phone, but bemoaned being unable to take one home due to the shortage.

At this point I was rather irate, but I remembered wonderful readers were counting on me to write a review of the Storm and I did not want to disappoint.  I have to admit, if I was not doing this review, I might have walked out of the store and bought an iPhone right there and then, not because it was the better phone necessarily, but because Verizon had bungled the launch so badly.

Instead I ponied up the $300 some dollars to get the device (I get $50 back via rebate) which is currently shipping to my residence, hopefully by the 15th.  When I finally get my hands on it I will look forward to doing a review on it. 

Oh, and if you know anyone at Verizon or RIM, yell at them for me.

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Regrettably Underwhelmed
By novacthall on 11/25/2008 12:49:45 PM , Rating: 4
My wife and I went to a Verizon store this weekend to play with the Storm, as we are currently seeking replacements for our aging -- but otherwise excellent -- VX8600 phones. My wife has been eying the iPhone for some time for its well-rounded approach to being more of a multimedia device and less of a classic phone, and being a gadget guy myself I understand where she's coming from.

They had two floor units, one of which was already taken. I took the other and started playing around. The UI seemed intuitive enough, I did not have any problems working my way around. I was initially a bit confused at the "Messages" and "SMS and IM" buttons, and accidentally went into Messages expecting text messages. This is not a problem with the unit as much as a classic PICNIC error, which would require user tweaking.

I played a media file, a trailer for some Vin Diesel movie. The sound quality coming through the speakers was ear-piercing to the point of physical discomfort. I turned down the volume, but even the low volume noise was horribly distorted. I do not see this being a useful feature.

Things started getting really nasty with the web browsing, though. Clicking links was very difficult since I have fat American fingers. Even my wife had troubles, though, so it would seem that the browser itself has a hard time resolving with precision where the user is trying to point. She worked around this by zooming into maximum so that the "Next Page" button filled up the entire screen, which she clicked triumphantly. While the Storm's browser was far and away better than the other BB devices I had played with (this one could actually render Penny Arcade in a readable fashion), getting around a site and zooming was a cumbersome affair. Changing the orientation of the screen was the biggest peeve of mine.

The Storm will orient its screen one of three ways: vertical "up" or both landscape configurations. It will not do vertical "down", but that's not a useful feature so no complaints there. What really got me, though, is that any time I would turn the phone, I could count to three before the phone did anything. Flip, one, two, three, screen change. This is pretty much unacceptable, as the UI lag was significant. Further compounding matters, when I would quit out of an application to go back to the home screen, there was a five second delay. This is a ludicrous amount of lag for a handheld device. While I hope they can fix this in a firmware patch, our first impressions of the Storm were completely and utterly marred by the slow UI response and lackluster web browsing.

For what it's worth, we both loved the screen clicking. She lamented that the Storm did not have pinch zooming, but seeing as how it is not a multitouch device (at least to my knowledge), this is something she would have to be comfortable living without.

So here's where we are: do we buy a Storm now hoping that the product will be patched and fixed over the coming months, or do we just forgo the heartache and torment and go with a feature phone that already has a bit of experience under its belt, like the iPhone?

Of course, we could always do nothing. That's a pretty cheap option, too.




RE: Regrettably Underwhelmed
By Lord 666 on 11/25/2008 1:45:14 PM , Rating: 2
Just sounds like you are not used to working with a Blackberry.

I admit that I was looking forward to the Storm coming from a VZW Curve, but was extremely disappointed with the typing with the touchscreen as my fingers were pressing multiple buttons in either landscape or portrait mode.

Why don't they just make a Bold style phone with the phone on one side and the "iPhone/iTouch" on the other side?


RE: Regrettably Underwhelmed
By quiksilvr on 12/2/2008 3:51:02 PM , Rating: 2
Or just get the G1.


RE: Regrettably Underwhelmed
By VooDooAddict on 11/25/2008 4:34:24 PM , Rating: 2
Don't buy a phone with hopes of fixes. The frustration is not worth it.


RE: Regrettably Underwhelmed
By cheetah2k on 11/25/2008 8:59:51 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Don't buy a phone with hopes of fixes. The frustration is not worth it.


You got to be joking right?

While you could say that there is some frustration to almost every smart phone out there, the only truth to this statement for me came in the form of the Sony Ericsson P990 (UIQ). While I sold it only 6 months after buying it, I still dont think SE got the firmware stable and memory leak free towards the end of its 2 years of life support.

Putting the P990 aside, most Windows Mobile users are probably the worst affected, and thank God HTC created TouchFlow 3D because it's the best thing since sliced bread for Win Mo users. The Touch Diamond is truely a cool phone!

Dont forget either, that the iPhone also has issues of its own, and still continues to lag a bit, even with the new V2.2 firmware. But knowing that, didnt deter me from buying it.

So unless you're in love with your stock standard Nokia 1xxx series candybar, a bit of lag here n there wouldnt deter me from handing over my hard earned mulah for something a bit different from the ordinary (tossed in with a few issues and a slice of lag)


RE: Regrettably Underwhelmed
By robinthakur on 11/26/2008 9:30:53 AM , Rating: 2
Uh no he's completely correct. If a device is buggy on day 1, what do you lose by waiting until the manufacturer fixes it? Almost without exception (the iPhone is an exception) manufacturers are very late with their fixes and models are rushed to market before they are ready. I used to have a Blackberry 8800 and whilst very good, I wasn't aware of any firmware updates for it the whole time I had it. Most users wouldn't be aware unless you have a system like the one Apple uses to prompt you to easily download and install firmwares without having to go to specialist phone shops or send it back to the carrier etc. The majority of users simply don't have the technical ability to reflash firmwares. As for Wimo, I gave up on that after owning one and the cool novelty of having a tiny windows environment (with tiny buttons) in my mobile wore off rapidly...

I wouldn't consider a bit of lag a major issue of the kind that the P990 was afflicted with. I think only you, me and a handful of other people bought that! Mine was returned within 3 days once I realised that upcoming fixes or not, it was broken beyond belief. I still think that is the worst phone SE (and mpossibly anyone) have ever shipped, not least because it disappointed so many IT admins and aside from the cool business card scanner was without redeeming features :)


RE: Regrettably Underwhelmed
By noirsoft on 11/26/2008 7:12:09 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Putting the P990 aside, most Windows Mobile users are probably the worst affected, and thank God HTC created TouchFlow 3D because it's the best thing since sliced bread for Win Mo users. The Touch Diamond is truely a cool phone!


I won't go into your general point, as I am on my 3rd WinMo phone (and 7th or so PocketPC device) without any problems.

I disagree that TouchFlo3d is the greatest thing ever. I used it for a few days on my new Touch Pro, and even consider the vanilla Today Screen a better source for seeing my daily schedule, emails, etc. Every WinMo user should check out SPB Mobile Shell-- that is a truly great finger-based UI for WinMo phones. Best $30 I ever spent on my phone. (No, I don't work for SPB, just a really happy customer)


RE: Regrettably Underwhelmed
By AlexWade on 11/26/2008 8:48:26 AM , Rating: 2
I surprised the stuff you were doing didn't cost extra. My experience with Verizon is they love to cripple phones and charge extra for what is free on other companies. Great service, bad prices. As opposed to what I have, AT&T, which has great prices but mediocre service.


Blackberry Storm. Sounds like a DQ Bizzard flavor
By austinag on 11/25/2008 11:01:09 AM , Rating: 3
I think the iphone ran out of stock in like the first 4 hours. Not suprising the Storm was sold out the next day.




By SandmanWN on 11/25/2008 11:03:48 AM , Rating: 5
yeah much-a-do about nothing here. its new and out of stock, and someone is crying about it. boo hoo


By Expunge on 11/25/2008 1:35:37 PM , Rating: 2
Did I just hear a WHAAAAAAAA-bulance.

Just be a man and step up and admit that you fAiLeD in securing said device for your review. That way we can mock you even more.

Just having a little fun at your expense.. dont take it seriously. :)


Why does this guy still have a job at dailytech???
By psypher on 12/1/2008 9:12:01 PM , Rating: 1
Honestly, I rarely log in to post anymore, but this is getting to be too much. I read DT every day and every time I read one of Jason Mick's articles, I wonder why the hell he has a job as a journalist. He is the most biased writer I have ever read on a tech site. Every single article of his I've read recently has comments bashing this guy and his journalistic integrity, and I think they are right to do so. The best is when it gets so bad that he actually has to defend himself in the comments section.

Come on already, DT, find a replacement for this terrible journalist. Your readers deserve better. It's writing like this that makes me now visit Ars Technica and HardOCP before I visit DT nowadays...




By wjobs55 on 12/6/2008 4:44:09 AM , Rating: 2
masher it that you or just a troll?


Are you the center of the universe?
By the goat on 11/25/2008 11:48:12 AM , Rating: 2
Verizon not shaft you in the slightest. Did they promise they would have the phone in stock? If you really wanted one you should have gone sooner.




Oh that's what you did?
By yacoub on 11/25/2008 12:32:44 PM , Rating: 2
I was thinking you might be irate enough to walk out of the Verizon store and over to your local BestBuy where they had plenty of them in stock on launch day. Silly me. ;P




Honestly...
By Vanilla Thunder on 11/26/2008 4:30:52 AM , Rating: 2
Who is going to wait until December 15 for your review of the Storm? Numerous REPUTABLE sources will have long forgotten their reviews of the phone by the time you first receive yours. Plus, your opinion DOES tend to be a little biased. I won't lose any sleep.




Not April 1st?
By fishbits on 11/26/2008 2:43:08 PM , Rating: 2
"At this point I was rather irate,"
"I might have walked out of the store and bought an iPhone right there and then, not because it was the better phone necessarily, but because Verizon had bungled the launch so badly"
"Oh, and if you know anyone at Verizon or RIM, yell at them for me."

No one you work with has questioned your suitability for the role of a reviewer? Posting this public temper tantrum and getting hostile over this? Because a popular phone sold out, and other people got there before you? After putting off (either your choice or your boss's) getting the phone you were supposed to review?

"Verizon Kills My Blackberry Dreams"
Sheesh, Daily Tech could cruise the local middle schools hoping to pick up someone with a better temperment and more maturity and objectivity. Your not getting your backside to the store "killed your dreams" and is Verizon's fault?

"...sounds like problems with the device's file system and or OS. Could it be a virus?"
Mmm, but they must pay, PAY, for selling out their stock before you eventually got there. I hear the OS is likely a disaster and the phones come with viruses!

I guess RIM (and the rest of us) will know how to read the "review" of a product from a manufacturer and carrier you're mad at. Wretched ethics for a tech review site, but DT's choice.




By vsa1977 on 12/2/2008 12:06:51 AM , Rating: 2
Guys, BlackBerry has released a new firmware (4.7.0.75) for the Storm. This release has Reduced lag and response time of the Storm. Users have reported that this release has made a huge difference in performance. Visit http://smartphone-guru.blogspot.com/2008/12/blackb... for a list of bugs fixed by the firmware update.

The only bad thing is that this release is not for Apple Mac users. Yep, BlackBerry does not support Apple Mac that well... visit http://smartphone-guru.blogspot.com/2008/12/blackb... for System Requirements.




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